Match Report

Tamworth v St Ives Town

Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 31–01-2023

Having outplayed third placed Leiston for long spells without getting any reward on Saturday Ives faced an even sterner test only three days later as they came to the home of league leaders Tamworth. Once again the boys from Cambridgeshire acquitted themselves well but were undone by two brief losses of concentration, one at the start of each half.

The visitors made a bright start and Enoch Andoh pulled an early shot wide of the target having run onto an Ed Hottor flick. But the Lamb were then gifted the lead in eleventh minute as full back Matt Curley found enough space at the back of Ives six yard box to power home Ben Milnes pin point corner.

It quickly became apparent that the hosts style, which has worked so effectively for them this season, was to look to deliver long cross field balls towards the corner flag at every opportunity with the aim of winning opportunities to deliver corners and long throws from Curley into what became a very crowded Ives box. This was very similar to the style of play the John Beck found so effective at Cambridge United in the 1980’s, so effective in fact that it almost got tiny Cambridge into the Premier League.

It is very difficult to defend against but to give them their due Ives knuckled down, dug in and did a very effective job with generally an Ives head getting on the end of the missiles delivered into the box. It was the visitors who created the next noteworthy effort on goal in 24th minute as Andoh jinked his way past a defender before unleashing a low drive from just outside the box that struck Ben Hart and deflected wide. Kieran Higgs delivered the resulting corner to the near post where Ben Toseland managed to get in front of his man but he failed to make clean contact and Liam Dolman scrambled the loose ball away.

At the other end the ball was still being bombed into Ives box at every opportunity. A 26thminute corner from the right by Milnes picked out Lambs leading scorer Dan Creaney at the back post, but James Dadge in the Ives goal reacted well to keep the effort out. Three minutes later Dadge did very well to come through the crowd and get a clean fist to another corner, this time from the right. The ball dropped to Kyle Finn just outside the box, but he struck his first time effort about a metre wide of Dadge’s right hand post.

Ex Ives wide man. Luke Fairlamb was next to go close for the hosts in 33rd minute as he got between defenders to get on the end of a Finn cross from the right but he failed to hit the target under pressure from Paddy Casey.

Jonny Edwards failed to take advantage of an excellent chance to level things up seven minutes before the break. Toseland’s ball out of defence set Higgs away down the left. He turned inside and delivered an inviting cross that picked out Edwards arriving late between the two centre backs but his contact was perhaps a little to clean and the ball flew over the top.

The Lambs strung together their best move of the game just before the break as the ball was kept on the deck and moved deep into Ives territory before eventually being teed up by Milnes for Alex Bradley who tried a curler from 25 yards but Dadge was alert to the danger and moved his feet well to make a comfortable save.

Still very much in it at the break Ives then proceeded to make getting anything out of the game a whole lot harder as they were caught completely cold four minutes after the restart. Having been pummelled with Curley’s long throws throughout the first half they seemed to be expecting the full back to trek across the field to deliver another one when the ball went out of play deep in their territory. But with everyone thinking about where they needed to be to defend the anticipated howitzer, Fairlamb picked up the ball and quickly threw it to Finn who found himself completely unmarked inside the box with only Dadge to beat. The Lambs number ten duly did just that prodding the ball under the keeper as he came to close him down.

But far from daunted by going two down Ives instantly reacted and three minutes later they reduced the arrears in the simplest fashion. Higgs was fouled by Callum Cockerill-Mollett in a wide left position. Michael Richens delivered the in-swinging free kick into the no man’sland between keeper and defenders and Edwards did the rest arriving unmarked to nod the ball home past Jas Singh in the Lambs goal.

The visitors then came within a whisker of levelling things up just after the hour as Hottor fed in Andoh down the left. The winger fired in a low driven cross that deflected off Creaney and was going in before the ball struck a startled Singh and rebounded over the crossbar with the keeper none the wiser.

The hosts now went in search of a third goal to kill the game, but Ives defence, if occasionally stretched, never broke although there were a few close saves. A clever 68thminute free kick by Finn gave Milnes the chance to get a shot away from 25 yards, but the effort was always rising and went just over the top.

Jordan Williams picked up his eleventh yellow card of the season as he took down Creaney in full flow with the Lambs centre forward inches outside the box in 75th minute. Milnes managed to get the free kick over Ives five man wall, but could not quite get it down quickly enough and it went inches over the top as Dadge scrambled to get across. Finn went down under challenge from Williams inside the box in 85th minute but the excellent referee Richard Watson was right on the spot, waved the claims away then proceeded to book Finn and his manager Andy Peaks for disagreeing with his decision.

Thanks to their defensive resilience Ives earned themselves the opportunity to put some pressure on their hosts as the clock ticked down. In the first added minute substitute and former Lamb Greg Kaziboni got down the right and hung up a teasing cross that drifted over Singh. Andoh was arriving at the back post, but in his efforts to force the ball home he was adjudged to have fouled covering defender Curley.

There was already going to be an added six minutes but when Finn needed prolonged treatment for cramp the watch ticked on to an added nine with Ives still pressing for an equaliser. One last opportunity presented itself, keeper Dadge came all the way out of his goal to deliver a free kick from wide left inside the Lambs half into the box and with 21 of the 22 players on the pitch in and around the Lambs box. Unfortunately the ball was a little to high allowing Singh to come and claim it and the final whistle on a pulsating game sounded with the ball in the keepers hands.

To come away from trips to two of the top three sides feeling that you are unfortunate to have got no reward from either of them is a positive sign. But that positivity must be taken forward into the upcoming run of fixtures and after Hitchin at home on Saturday six of the following seven games are away from home so as always it is going to be tough.

Final Score: Tamworth 2 St Ives Town 1

Goals:

TAMWORTH: Curley 11, Finn 49

ST IVES: Edwards 53

Team Line Ups:

TAMWORTH: Singh, Curley, Cockerill-Mollett, Bradley (Clement 79), Hart, Dolman, McKeown, Milnes (capt), Creaney (Deacon 83), Finn, Fairlamb, Unused subs: Cater, Jones, Yeomans

ST IVES: Dadge, Casey, Herd, Richens (capt), J. Williams, Toseland, Higgs (Baker 60), Hottor (Johnston 85), Edwards, Hickinson (Kaziboni 67), Andoh, Unused subs: Milne, Johnson,

Cards: Yellow: TAMWORTH: Cockerill-Mollett (50), Finn (86), Curley (90+6)     ST IVES: Richens (34), Edwards (45), Hottor (58), Williams (75)

IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Jordan Williams

Attendance: 644

Report by Nigel Howlett. Highlights by Ollie Jones.